In March 2004, Captain Jeff Jager joined 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment at Forward Operating Base Normandy in Iraq and, in early November, was sent over to Marine Regimental Combat Team 7 as the officer in charge of a liaison team "to assist with the integration of 2-2's capabilities" in preparation for what became Operation Phantom Fury (Al Fajr): the combined-joint assault to retake the city of Fallujah. Among his responsibilities, which he speaks about at length, were to "understand the command and control structure of RCT-7"; "figure out their operational plan" and their "targeting process"; "find and recon Task Force 2-2's attack position"; and "find and recon the battalion living area and where the tactical operations center was going to be located." His reports back to 2-2 focused on "what RCT-7 was doing to set the conditions, what the intel picture said about what the enemy was doing inside, how RCT-7 was targeting our sector, what we experienced when we were there, and what lessons we learned.” In this interview, Jager also discusses communications difficulties he experienced in dealing with Army and Marine systems, the challenges with respect to good situational awareness, and how – once the urban fight began – his role shifted to becoming “a glorified RTO.” Providing unique insights into the execution of Phantom Fury from the 2-2 and RCT-7 levels, as well as shedding light on a myriad of personnel and task organization issues, Jager also talks about embedded reporters and how their remarkable access (and limited oversight) had both positive and negative consequences.

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